The rules governing connection charges for sewer projects will go before the Mount Pleasant Village Board, now that an ad hoc committee approved them Wednesday.
The new rules, if passed by the board, will set new a procedure in place for assessing the cost for homeowners and developers when a sewer line is being put in. The Ad Hoc committee that passed them was formed in a response to the furor that arose from special assessment prices for the Hwy V sewer project.
The price tags on some of the Hwy V assessments would have priced some people out of their homes, according to critics.
The new rules are governed by a simple equation, which can be extrapolated to a number of connection scenarios. That is equation is:
Connecting to the sewer costs the property owner $55 per linear foot. However, if the homeowner lives in a single-family home or duplex, they will pay the equivalent of a 100 foot frontage or $5,500. Developers and other industrial or commercial buildings will always pay the $55 per linear foot.
Along with the connection charge is a lateral charge. The price of which is relative to the size of the pipe. For a 4-inch pipe, the lateral will cost $2,599, a 6-inch will cost $2,772 an 8-inch will cost $2,945.
What about water?
Committee Chair Gary Feest and others discussed how this plan for sewer connection only addresses half of the issue.
Right now, villagers could still be slammed with massive assessments for city water when the sewer comes down the road, Feest said. However, connecting to water is stipulated by the water agreement between the City of Racine and Mount Pleasant.
To change the assessment process for water, as committee member and Trustee Jon Hewitt put it: “We’d have to change the agreement with the City of Racine. We’d have to come up with multi-millions of dollars to do that.”
The millions of dollars would be needed for one of two things: buying the city out of the water infrastructure in Mount Pleasant or to craft a similar policy, which would pass off the price of the water assessment onto the village.
“If the village doesn’t pay them off up front, they’re gonna come back to the village and say this is due,” said Tony Beyer, the sewer and stormwater utility manager for the village.
The committee concluded that they will address water in the future, which would mean revisiting the water agreement with the City of Racine.